The Weekly Town Crier (11/13/20)
All the week’s news that’s fit to cry about (11/13/20).
We’ll Miss You:
Read “Alex Trebek, long-running 'Jeopardy!' host, dead at 80” at CNN.
Read “Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., Trump’s Evangelical Adviser, Dies At 66” at Black Enterprise.
Religion and Stuff:
Read ‘Sexy swingers club or ‘church’: Who gets to decide?” at Religion News Service. “Rooms labeled as dungeons in remodeling plans for The Social Club have been renamed as "choir" and "handbell" space in the revamped United Fellowship Center. Courts may decide the sincerity of that conversion.”
Read “Evangelical asylum-seekers stuck in Mexico hold prayer vigil for the US election” at Religion News Service. “'Their lives and the lives of the children depend on the outcome of the election,' said Alma Ruth, founder of the Texas-based Practice Mercy Foundation.”
Read “Stressed by COVID, online seekers discover Buddhism’s calming practice” at Religion News Service. “Buddhist teachings about suffering and the impermanence of all things, many find, have particular relevance in this moment.”
Read “Conservatives value personal stories more than liberals do when evaluating scientific evidence” at The Conversation.
Read “Worse than bungling, McCarrick report shows Vatican failed to take abuse seriously” at Religion News Service.
Read “Is the Pastor Carl Lentz Fallout Just Beginning?” at Vanity Fair.
Read “Amid cries for church unity post-election, some Christians say ‘Not so fast’” at Religion News Service.
Read “Evangelical Advisers Back Trump’s Challenges of Election, but Stop Short of Alleging Fraud” at Roys Report.
Read “In a less religious country, Biden gained ground with religious voters” at Religion News Service.
Read “On Evangelical Masculinities” at The Revealer. “A review of Jesus and John Wayne and a reflection on evangelicals, masculinity, and race.”
Read “Joe Biden, president-elect at last, was shaped by a very American Catholic faith” at Religion News Service.
Read “Biden pledges to raise refugee ceiling to 125,000 in address to Jesuit group” at Religion News Service.
Legal/Justice and Social Justice and Race or Gender or Sexism-Related Stuff:
Read “'Remain in Mexico' policy: My foster daughter was separated from her family at the border” at USA Today.
Read “Would a Former President Get Secret Service Protection in Prison?” at Slate.
Read “Digital misogyny: Online abuse of women surges during COVID” at Al Jazeera.
Read “NASCAR Driver Indefinitely Suspended Over Swastika Tweet” at The Algemeiner.
Read “Judge dismisses Trump's libel lawsuit against CNN” at The Hill.
Read “White House press secretary refers question to the White House” at MSNBC.
Read “An Engineer Gets 9 Years for Stealing $10M From Microsoft” at Wired.
Read “Appeals Court Rules Harvard Doesn't Discriminate Against Asian American Applicants” at NPR.
Read “Zuckerberg defends not suspending ex-Trump aide Bannon from Facebook: recording” at Reuters.
This Week With The Police:
Read “Arkansas police chief resigns after threatening to abuse Democrats” at USA Today.
Read “Police, county attorney's office hide 738,000 records in Kentucky sex abuse case” at Tennessean.
Your Weekly Coronavirus Roundup:
Read “How Are We Going to Get Through the Next Two Months of COVID?” at Slate. “Even if Biden wins, we still have two months of Trump’s pandemic.”
Read “Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Infected With Coronavirus” at Bloomberg.
Read “After COVID-19 Diagnosis, Nearly 1 In 5 Are Diagnosed With Mental Disorder” at NPR. “1 in 5 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 is diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 3 months, a new study finds. But the link goes further: people with psychiatric diagnoses were about 65% more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19. It's unclear why.”
Read “Biden’s ready to start his pandemic response immediately” at Stat News.
Read “Trump adviser overseeing campaign legal challenges gets coronavirus, sources say” at CNN.
Read “Two White House Aides, Guest of Giuliani Test Positive for Virus” at Bloomberg.
Read “Wear Masks To Protect Yourself From The Coronavirus, Not Only Others, CDC Stresses” at NPR.
Read “Ukraine's President Hospitalized With COVID-19” at NPR.
Read “At dinner parties and game nights, casual American life is fueling the coronavirus surge" at Washington Post.
Read “Nicola Sturgeon says Scots could get coronavirus vaccine 'by end of 2020'“ at Daily Record.
Read “Some Chicago Cops Still Won’t Wear Masks Despite 1,200 COVID Infections — Will A New PSA Actually Help?” at Block Club Chicago.
Miscellany Cultural Items:
Read “Douglas Emhoff to become America's first second gentleman” at CNN.
Read “Mississippi legislator apparently floats secession after Biden victory” at The Hill.
Read “Today’s Authoritarian Leaders Aren’t Fascists—But They Are Part of the Same Story” at Time.
Read “I Put My Baby’s Urine In It” – Mike Tyson Pleads Guilty to Cheating” at Essentially Sports.
Read ‘Zoom Will Increase Its Security After FTC Alleges It Misled Its Users” at Slate.
Read “Jon Voight says fighting 'lie' Biden won is 'greatest fight since the Civil War'“ at The Hill.
Read ‘Trump’s Defeat Didn’t Stop His ‘Ban’ on Modern Architecture” at Bloomberg. “The president never signed a controversial “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again” executive order. But a neoclassical-only building mandate is still happening.”
Read “Cannabis farms struggle to survive California wildfires without insurance” at Cronkite News.
Read “These companies are helping working parents navigate an impossible situation” at Fast Company.
Politics And Sucheries:
Read ‘Joe Biden Wins The 2020 Presidential Election” at Okay Player.
Read “Donald Trump’s statement in full after Joe Biden declared winner Trump says presidential race is far from over, accuses Biden’s ‘media allies’ of hiding the truth” at Al Jazeera.
Read “The Green New Deal Didn't Sink Democrats” at Gizmodo.
Read “Trump commission did not find widespread voter fraud” at Associated Press.
Read “The Slow-Motion Humiliation of an Empty Demagogue” at Slate. “The president’s sadism ends in his own agony.”
Read “Congress’ first gay Afro-Latino on his historic election” at MSNBC.
Read “'We're not some demonic cult': Democrats fume over faulty messaging” at Politico.
Read “Slim majority support adding more seats to Supreme Court” at The Hill.
Read “Claims that dead people voted went viral. These are the facts” at CNN.
Read “Trump campaign wins case on voter ID deadline” at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
This Week In Political Corruption:
Read “Election Day Failing Puts DeJoy at Risk of Contempt Order” at Courthouse News.
Read “Pompeo on election results: 'There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration'“ at The Hill.
Watch “Republican senators refuse to say Biden won the election” at MSNBC.
Read “White House attorney dispatched to agency blocking Biden transition” at Yahoo.
Read “White House tells federal agencies to proceed with plans for Trump’s February budget in latest sign of election defiance” at Washington Post. “Directive is latest sign that Trump aides are acting as if he won the election and won’t leave office on Jan. 20.”
Read “Why the GOP Is Keeping Trump’s Voter-Fraud Fantasy Alive” at Vice. “The crucial importance of the two Senate runoff races in Georgia gives GOP leaders a powerful incentive to entertain Trump’s ludicrous claims.”
Read “Trump may accept results but never concede, aides say” at Yahoo.
Read “Math doesn’t care about your baseless allegations,’ Pennsylvania Lt. Gov Fetterman says about Trump lawsuits” at Yahoo.
Read “Few legal wins so far as Trump team hunts for proof of fraud” at Yahoo.
Read “Senate panel proposes $696B Pentagon spending bill” at The Hill.
Read “Trump weakens U.S. security with installation of unqualified loyalists at Pentagon” at MSNBC.
Read “Mark Esper fired as Pentagon chief after contradicting Trump” at The Guardian.
Read “Why are Republicans sticking with Trump? Peer pressure—and we’re all susceptible to it.” at America Magazine.
Read ‘Top official on U.S. election cybersecurity tells associates he expects to be fired” at Reuters.
Read “Donations under $8K to Trump ‘election defense’ instead go to president, RNC” at Reuters.
Music-Related News and Such:
Read “Here's What Kamala Harris Is Jamming To In Between Campaign Stops This Summer” at Bustle.
Read “The Red Hand Files Issue #123”. “If there are others all moving in the same direction, and they look like you, and they move like you, and they all like the same things, and they hate the same things, and they are angry about the same things, and they are screaming about the same things, chances are you are on the wrong path.”
Read “Transmissions :: John Darnielle of Mountain Goats” at Aquarium Drunkard.
Read “Brian Eno’s Music for Anxious Times” at New York Times.
Read “An Architect of Americana, Lucinda Williams, Talks with ‘Songcraft’ Podcast” at American Songwriter.
Read “How 200 Musicians Joined Forces to Complete Sufjan Stevens’ Unfulfilled 50 States Project” at Pitchfork.
Watch “Sturgill Simpson Chat, Play “Breakers Roar” on Colbert” at Pitchfork.
Read “Lambchop :: The AD Interview” at Aquarium Drunkard.
Read “Fighting to Be Heard: The Story of the Black Country Music Association” at Rolling Stone.
Listen to “Neil Young & Crazy Horse :: Danger Birds (A 40-Minute Live Megamix)” at Aquarium Drunkard.
Read “The Troubled Afterlife Of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” at Stereogum.
Browse Rolling Stone’s picks for “Neil Young’s Essential Albums”.
Read “The Weeknd to headline Super Bowl halftime show” at The Hill.
Browse “Decibel’s Top 40 Albums of 2020”.
Movies/TV/Video Games/Etc.:
Read “Concrete Jungle: Forthcoming U.K. TV Show Celebrates 2 Tone Ska Scene” at Flood Magazine.
Books/Reading/Authors
Read “DC Comics Promotes Marie Javins to Editor-in-Chief” at Variety.
Design/Artsy Things:
Read “Botched Restoration of Spanish Sculpture Draws Scrutiny” at Art News.
Science/Animals/Technology/Environment/Etc.:
Read “Early Hackers Used Whistles From Cap’n Crunch Cereal Boxes” at Atlas Obscura.
Read “What was the Carrington Event?” at Universal-Sci.
Misc. Oddities:
Read “Exploding whale film gloriously restored in 4K” at Boing Boing.
Read “Inside a Domed Pyramid With Astounding Acoustics and a History of Miracles” at Atlas Obscura.